Dundee postpone relegation with dramatic late win

Carl Finnigan's late winner against St Mirren was enough to preserve Dundee's SPL survival aspirations for another week, as they triumphed 2-1 on Saturday.

John Brown's side arrived in Paisley 13 points behind their opponents with five games to play but got the win that kept them up for now.

Jim McAlister had smashed the visitors ahead only for Saints' top scorer Steven Thompson to level just after the interval. But with time running out, substitute Finnigan squeezed a header down off the underside of the bar and just over the line to ensure that their battle against relegation continued to next week's home fixture with Hearts.

Saints had looked set to push on for a winner themselves before captain Jim Goodwin's dismissal for two bookable offences swung the game away from them.

John Sutton's early goal proved enough to put Hearts firmly in the running for seventh place in the table, although they made life difficult for themselves in a 1-0 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

Sutton finished from close range in the fifth minute and Hearts were rarely troubled before Cammy Bell denied them a second when he saved Ryan Stevenson's 62nd-minute penalty.

But they had to survive some late pressure with Kris Boyd passing up two good chances for the hosts.